Good morning to all! This is a fasting day for me. They are becoming easier and now look forward to these days. Wishing everyone a successful fasting or feeding day.

I am back, fasting and feeling better today! Ready for a new month of lost pounds. 🙂

Bronx,
Yes, I found by accident that normal baking powder has aluminum, and was very surprised. Even though I don’t bake much now, but replace the old baking powder with the one that does not have any aluminum. I am baking when my kids/mom/friends are visiting. Let me know if you find out that sneaky aluminum somewhere else.

rlw66,
Thank you for your recipes, even though I don’t use dressings much, the idea to mix yogurt and avocado so new for me. I am going to investigate and play with it.

It is wonderful to see so many Americans joining the forum. We went to opera yesterday, and I noticed that opera singers are getting much thinner, and still have great voices! 🙂

I love reading about your, guys, menu ideas for fasting days. Since I am on no-calories fasts, I use your low calories recipes during my non-fast days. It helps me to plan NFdays so much better. Love it!

Happy fasting everybody!

K-Lo,

Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville”. We don’t usually laugh during opera, but that one was pure delight with humor and fun. 😀

Dear fellow Americans,
Many people from UK and Australia talking enthusiastically about very low calories noodles. Did anybody find those in USA? What is the brand and where to buy those?

Coldpizza you are asking about lo cal noodles. Thwy are called shirataki or miracle noodles. They can be found in the produce section in bags of water. Watch youtube videos about haw to prep them. They need to be really really really well rinced to get rid of their fishy smell. They are made from a yam root.

Needed to renew license tabs so taking advantage of long wait at secretary of state on my fast day. Never thought I would find the wait useful.

Princess C,
The noodle that UK fasters talking about called BareNakedNoodles, and seems that they are different from shirataki nooddles. I found the old thread on our forum where they compare the two (check the third post):

https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/pasta-recipe-on-a-fast-day/

Hi Justjennfl
I lost 15 lb in 4 month, which is kind of slow. It works better if you stick to the rule more strictly than me. 🙂

Hi Just and welcome:

Many have lost a lot of weight. One person just posted going past the 100 lb. lost mark.

But it takes time. The average weight loss for women over time is a little less than a pound a week, so although coldpizza thinks her loss is slow it is actually right on pace.

Here are some tips: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/

Good Luck!

Hi Justjennfl and everyone else =)

Im new to this website (Ive browsed it before but never posted anything), and I think I can relate to your story quite a bit, and would like to introduce myself!

Im Kayana, Im currently nearing the last semester of my studies, and in the past year and a half my weight has slowly been creeping up from my average of 135-138 pounds (62-63kg) during most of university and high school (lean but not skinny, Im 5’6, 172cm tall ) to currently around 158 pounds (73kg) which is the most Ive ever had! I know its a combination of not having a regular routine regarding meals or excercise, and therefore not excercising enough and randomly eating too much without really knowing the effects! I used to do lots of team sports in high school and now I just try to go running 1-2 times a week, and sometimes attend HIIT classes at the gym.

Last year I was living in another university for an exchange semester learning a martial arts and really wanted to cut body fat so I could manage to do pullups! I started 4:3 after a recommendation from a friend and did it consistently for about 1 month, where I really noticed myself getting leaner and feeling fantastic regarding my body, energy levels etc. The only thing I realised was that it was sometimes difficult to arrange going out with friends as I didnt really tell anyone what I was doing. I also found myself thinking about food a lot more often, not because of being overly hungry / cravings, but just generally being excited to plan healthy meals and make what I was putting into my body worth it.

I want to restart 4:3, and have tried a few times in the past months but seem to fail for some reason after 1 or 2 days. Im not sure if its because I dont have a regular schedule (no scheduled classes, I just go to the library most days to work on my thesis), im distracted / prioritising work, or just lacking the mental strength at the moment! Im hoping that if I can become a bit present in this community online and create some accountability for myself that I will be able to enjoy that challenge again.

Sorry for the long intro ! I look forward to joining in on the discussions =)

Kayana – as suggested in another post, try just doing low carb on fast days. Might help you ease into it again. I sympathise with trying to get back into. I wish I could tell you the secret, but don’t think there is one. My partner and I recently got back into it again, and the first two weeks were really hard. As far as crazy schedules, the two of us have them. Both are nurses, and he rotates day shift and evenings (with being on call at night after evening shifts) and I rotate all three shifts, working mostly afternoons and nights. I’m the one planning all the meals! My partner is in need of a knee replacement, so most exercise is out for him at the moment. And I pick up where he can’t do things, so not much left over time for exercise (and no way would I even consider exercising after night shift – it’s all I can do to get home to bed in the morning!)

I would recommend Krista Varady’s book “The Every Other Day Diet”, as it helped me. I could not get into 4:3 when we were doing 5:2 before, but have managed to to alternate day fasting which seems to be very workable. Best of luck – you can do it!

Has anyone had any issues with changing up your fasting days from week to week? Do you have to be consistent?

Hi K-Lo:

I think the major difference between 5:2 and Dr. Varady’s ADF is the way it is sold. 5:2 is sold as a weight loss diet with ‘other health benefits’, while ADF is sold as a weight loss diet. When Dr. M was preparing his TV program a clinical study on 5:2 had already been published finding it safe and effective as a weight loss diet (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3017674/). The ‘other health benefits’ set the ‘Fast Diet’ apart from the study, somewhat. Dr. Varady’s book was not published until after Dr. M’s and I heard she was a bit miffed that he ‘preempted’ her using her own research.

All just my opinion, as I have no idea what Dr. M knew or was thinking when he wrote and publicized the book.

Hi everyone,
I’m baaaaack. I just wrote a lengthy post that was somehow deleted. Huge bummer. I’m going to catch everyone up tomorrow when I’m not fighting sleep and wanting a snack. It’s in my best interest to get to bed and build on my success of another first day fast by getting some sleep.

Just mainly wanted to tell you I’m so happy for everyone’s successes and can’t wait to join you all again!
Welcome to everyone new and congrats to everyone whose been losing!

Yes we can!!
Crowmama

So, big wake up call…some of you may have seen the article in the New York Times yesterday about the aftermath for the people who participated in the show the Biggest Loser: a group was followed for a couple of years after the show ended. The main takeaway: almost all of them gained almost all the weight back. Some ended up heavier. The scientific breakthrough:.they measured their metabolism and most had been damaged,with many burning far fewer calories a day than normal, anywhere from 500 to 800 cals less a day- in other words their TDEE ended up far lower than normal for someone the height and the weight they had achieved- and it wasn’t recovering. Also their hormone Leptin virtually disappeared, the one that signals that we are full- and neither of those things had recovered two years out. So, they were hungry all the time, feeling starved really, and gradually ate their way back.
The scientists do not know why- more research is needed, but it could be that they lost too fast, that they had huge amounts of weight to lose, that they exercised too much- but interestingly people who lose weight quickly by having their stomachs stapled do not damage their metabolism…and therefore can eat their normal TDEE and not regain.
My takeaway: we are playing with biology here, a powerful force- so although more research is needed, slower loss might be easier to maintain. How do we trick the body into not wanting to gain the weight back? And what really damaged their metabolisms? No matter what we are doing here, it seems we need to be having a discussion about how to maintain any weight loss going forward- that’s the real challenge. Food for thought- ha! Your thoughts?

Justjennfl,
I am very fluid by nature. The plus of it that I am easily adjustable, but the minus that I cannot really stick to a strict plan for long. So I am varying every week. Most of the time I am on 36-hours-no-calories fast two times per week. I am able to complete about 60 % of those. For the non-complete ones I am eating one meal at evening for about 500 cal. The hardest part is stay under TDEE during non-fast days (mine is 1500 cal). I almost always go over it. This is my goal for now-to learn to stay under TDEE.

For me, the biggest advantage of this program is flexibility. You try one way, and you can try another. There are people who fast with 500 cal 2 times, or 3 times or every other day per week. Some do water fasts, some do 2 fasts in a row. Many people combine several types of diets. I tried many approaches and all of them are working, some faster, some slower. The important is that all of us are trying to find the way that fit for us. This is a very positive – because there is no real failure – you just continue to work it out and developing your style of eating/fasting. And during that time you are losing, because you eat less than your TDEE.

Wishing you the best, and reach your goal in losing!

PC,

I use apple cider vinegar in all my salads and sometimes I just have a few spoonful right out the bottle. Just a word of warning, make sure it doesn’t contain sugar!! Ive found that some brands have up to 30% sugar added to the vinegar. Now why on earth would you need to add sugar to vinegar?? Crazy stuff. Came across a “health” bar called “Keto bar”. Name implied it was a ketogenic health bar supposedly high in protein. 8% protein and 55% sugars. Crazy stuff. Read the labels on anything that comes in a box or bottle.

Bronx, I just checked my bottle from Vitamin Shoppe…no sugars. Phew!

abitun, Jason Fung writes that fasting while ill is actually a good thing. Don’t ask me to explain the science….

“Fasting is one of the most ancient and widespread healing traditions in the world. Hippocrates of Cos (c 460 – c370 BC) is widely considered the father of modern medicine. Among the treatments that he prescribed and championed was the practice of fasting, and the consumption of apple cider vinegar. Hippocrates wrote, “To eat when you are sick, is to feed your illness”. The ancient Greek writer and historian Plutarch (cAD46 – c AD 120) also echoed these sentiments. He wrote, “Instead of using medicine, better fast today”. Ancient Greek thinkers Plato and his student Aristotle were also staunch supporters of fasting.

“The ancient Greeks believed that medical treatment could be observed from nature. Humans, like most animals, do not eat when they become sick. For this reason, fasting has been called the ‘physician within’. This fasting ‘instinct’ that makes dogs, cats and humans anorexic when sick. This sensation is certainly familiar to everybody. Consider the last time you were sick with the flu. Probably the last thing you wanted to do was eat. So, fasting seems to be a universal human instinct to multiple forms of illnesses. Thus fasting is ingrained into human heritage, and as old as mankind itself.”

I do the apple cider thing in seltzer

Hello! Great to “meet” you all. I stumbled onto the FastDiet in March, and have been at it ever since. While weight loss was successful for a while, I appear to have plateaued. I’m also seeing some odd weight fluctuations. Yesterday, I was magically 5 lbs heavier than the week before! Today (I don’t normally weigh every day, but given yesterday’s results…), I’m back down to 176. What gives? I know I’m building some muscle back as I dig deeper into cycling season (I’m an avid cyclist), but that’s a huge swing. Water weight? That seems like alot too…

Hi coldpizza, re your question about apple-cider vinegar. I personally know nothing about the health benefits but if you go to http://www.NutritionFoods.org a site run by a Doctor Michael Greger (How Not To Die) you may find an answer.
Good Luck.

Amazingly I lost a pound on the fast yesterday and have been working hard at not gaining it back today. I’ve been full, felt great and keeping busy, which isn’t hard for me to do if I do some planning for it. I ought to go to grocery store right now, but never during rush hour and never when I’m hungry! Both rules #1. It felt really crummy (!!) to have to post that I had gained back all 4 lbs. I’d lost. I’m not looking back though. There’s nothing I can do about that, it’s over, but I can do something about tonight and tomorrow and planning for my fast on TH. It just doesn’t seem so horrible to fast when I can eat 500 cal. if I choose to. Before when I fasted it was ZERO calories, do or die, shut up and suffer. This seems so doable and so far it has been, in spite of my recent choosing to drop it until my friend left and went back out of town. Yes, I had a friend drop in on me from another state, a long way away, whom I haven’t seen or even heard from for 15 yrs. It took us many glasses of wine and eating of favorite things to catch up, never mind I didn’t have a clue she was coming. I’m getting too old for “drop ins”; it skewed my diet among other things, but we had a blast so I can’t be too bummed out.

We had a friend die suddenly of a brain aneurism, (have your carotids checked with stethoscope by your doctors people!) His wife and daughter are still kind of unraveling from the shock of it, so sudden, so we’re having a big Mother’s day party here. I’m planning the menu to accomdate guy-tastes as well as dieter-tastes
and best of all, doing it all in advance so no muss, no fuss. About 18 of us….It’ll be a good diversion for them and good excercise for me to practice staying on the down low with eating and drinking.

Crowmama

Don’t know about others, but I fast naturally when I’m sick because I tend to lose my appetite and just don’t feel like eating anything.

I’ve never tried cinnamon mixed with apple cider vinegar; guess I’m lucky that I like the taste of it just mixed with water.

Bronx

The cinnamon tends to float so I use my straw to sip from the top of my glass.